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Old 05-21-2008, 12:44 PM
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msauntry msauntry is offline
 
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Strange solution to fouled plug

Last year engine temps were perfect (140-160) on my raw water late model A4. Removed side plate and flushed a whole bunch of stuff out of there, black residue and large flakes of what I presume is scale or rusted flakes. I had installed a pipe cap on the tee, but with a whole only pointing aft. Noticed leaks this year, so I opened it up again and put in a new cap with a hole pointing aft and across the block as I saw recommended on this site. Reinstalled, and it ran hot because the holes weren’t big enough because I rushed and forgot the specs. Removed it again and drilled it out to proper 1/4 across and 3/8 aft holes and now it won’t get up to temperature. Its cooling too well! Guess I got to check the thermostat. May have clogged with all that debris I flushed around.
Strange fouled plugs:
My front cylinder was the worst plug fouler, though I read that usually happens to number 4 because it runs cooler from the tee flow. It ran rough with hotter NGK plugs, so I put in the old J8Cs and it ran much smoother. When I cleaned the block the second time, I noticed the drain by #1 cylinder didn’t flow. #4 drain worked fine. Poked with an awl and sprayed carb cleaner until it cleared out a fine black residue. Put in the hotter Champion plugs and it runs fine now with no more fouling.
Conclusion (maybe?): #1 cylinder was too hot with no water circulation around its front half because of the clogs and the hotter running plug made the engine run poorly. The cooler J8C plugs allowed it to run better. Cleaned out the passages and now it runs well with the hotter plugs and proper cooling.
So perhaps fouled plugs can mean two things: over cooling from the tee or over heating from partially blocked passages. I would imagine the #4 cylinder would see more clogging since the engine tilt would allow settling there. Maybe others with #4 fouling are actually having an overheating problem instead of the overcooling problem.
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